January 2023
Hello, here we are in January 2023. It seems as though there’s not much to show, gigs are quiet and personal matters are being attended too. It very much is a perfect time for working under the bonnet/hood and getting on with some housekeeping. This website is a perfect example. It needs a surprising amount of different parts to get the motor to turn over, things like graphics, photos bio’s need putting together (thank you Amy Very for cracking the whip and keeping me motivated here).
So to the music. The recordings are almost all in the Box. This began in lockdown. I was unable to work during this time and I homeschooled my two kids during the day and in the evening I would set up a simple studio based around my ancient Macbook Pro. After years of thinking and talking about this, I made a start. I have never been been very tech savvy, but I managed to chip away at the music and eventually got into a rhythm and started compiling my album. Once a recorded track really started to take shape, I would email it over to Phil and he would supply a bass part with his harmony vocals. It was extremely fortunate that he and I had played a ton of gigs the previous 2 years and we knew the songs inside out. That said, I personally learned so much about adding supplementary parts to the music realising that time worn cliche to be true that less really is more. Damn. That said, I’m pleased to say that over the course of that hour’s worth of material, I used almost every single instrument that I owned. It was also gret fun using found sounds like creaking stairs and the chimes from my old clock.
Where we are today is that there is just over an hours worth of music recording in the can, mixed and ready to be mastered and I’m really proud and amazed at what has been achieved. So why is it not ready to go? Well, what I have realised is that, and anyone who has been to a gig will be aware of is that a lot of my songs reference the sea either directly or obliquely and that there is almost an albums worth of sea-themed songs already recorded. There is however a comanion track missing . It is called ‘The Skipper’ and it was started along with the rest, but it has a tempo change midway through and I found it to be too complicated to get right and because of the lockdown, there was no-one to go to for help. However I have now overcome these technical shortcomings and this track is underway and I feel it needs including in the collection a, because I have always thought it one of my favoutes and b, because if it’s not includued with this collection, then when will it ever see the light of day. There is a voice within telling me that I’m prevaricating and putting off completion. There maybe an element of truth for sure. However to have a concept album seems too good an opertunity to miss. They are beyong the vaguries of fashion and never go out of style. Do they?
